His decision making is really good this year, and him being able to hit midrange jumpers is huge! I love hearing the commentators saying "Keep him out o the aint and he is useless for his team" *DD drains jumper "O.......he hit it"

DeMar's next line of work is working on his defensive abilities he should be a nightmare for opposing 2s and if DeRozan can become a guy that plays both ends well watch out hes going to be so dangerous! He can also get better at moving off the ball.

I'd love to see him work on his handles more. Right now he has a hard time breaking down guys in iso situations like how Rudy is able to do. That and also his defense like you mentioned is what I hope he works on this off season.

I'd love to see him work on his handles more. Right now he has a hard time breaking down guys in iso situations like how Rudy is able to do. That and also his defense like you mentioned is what I hope he works on this off season.

Because of his poor handles, we're forced to witness the pumpfake-pumpfake-pumpfake-kickout-with-5-seconds-on-the-clock far too often, or the dreaded contested-fadeway-20-footer.

DeRozan could be a pretty efficient scorer if he knew what a good shot was.

Yeah, I have to agree. He's like Landry Fields when he gets the ball sometimes where he seems to panic and tries to get rid of it as soon as possible. It's one dribble and shoot or one dribble and pass when he gets it in the perimeter. Hopefully he can come back next season with more confidence in his dribble.

I agree, he's been taking way too many shots from just inside the 3 point line. To his credit he was hitting his shots in yesterdays game against NY, but that is not an efficient shot to be taking.

Because of his poor handles, we're forced to witness the pumpfake-pumpfake-pumpfake-kickout-with-5-seconds-on-the-clock far too often, or the dreaded contested-fadeway-20-footer.

DeRozan could be a pretty efficient scorer if he knew what a good shot was.

I disagree I think DeMar has a great shot selection. It's just with his current skill set he can't get any better ones than one his creating. Rudy Gay that someone that doesn't know what a good shot is.

I disagree I think DeMar has a great shot selection. It's just with his current skill set he can't get any better ones than one his creating. Rudy Gay that someone that doesn't know what a good shot is.

Gay doesn't force shots. He just misses wide open ones, lol.

I find DeMar forces shots a lot (last night aside), and quick shots early in the clock. But then again, the whole team is guilty of this, not just DeMar.

I find DeMar forces shots a lot (last night aside), and quick shots early in the clock. But then again, the whole team is guilty of this, not just DeMar.

DeMar only forces when his against the shot clock I find. I feel like DeMar take good shot. He only really takes jumper is when his open or he has hieght advantage. He know his shoot isn't going to be blocked.

I don't know what it is with Rudy but, he seems to miss the easiest shot at time. When his right at the rim. I hope this changes. He takes a lot of jumpers so he needs does easy ones to fall.

DeMar is still young, but I wonder how much he can really improve his handle at this point.

Instead, I would like to see him develop a real 3 point shot. If Gay is being doubled, Lowry (among the starting 5) is the only guy to hit the three ball, so having DeRozen add range would further provide spacing and additional offensive options.

And, of course, better D is something I want ALL players to improve upon.

DeMar only forces when his against the shot clock I find. I feel like DeMar take good shot. He only really takes jumper is when his open or he has hieght advantage. He know his shoot isn't going to be blocked.

I don't know what it is with Rudy but, he seems to miss the easiest shot at time. When his right at the rim. I hope this changes. He takes a lot of jumpers so he needs does easy ones to fall.

I disagree, Rudy Gay can create shots, and like Nilanka said, he misses the easy ones.

Demar doesn't take great shots, and this happens maybe a 45% of the time. Near half of his shots are long twos when there are open lanes, seams, etc. He needs to realize when to drive, and when to take those shots. He has improved, but needs to get better, but when the shots are going down, and he's getting to the free throw line, you can't complain.

...Demar doesn't take great shots, and this happens maybe a 45% of the time. Near half of his shots are long twos when there are open lanes, seams, etc. ....

He is better than last year, and last year he was better than the year before (allowing for the fact that he was being regularly doubled). All he has to do is keep getting incrementally better, just as Nash did for his first 10 years, and that will justify the new contract. Add a little something every year. He is showing a pretty balanced set of tools right now. Not everything you would like, but getting there. I have a lot more hope for DD now than I did at the start of the year.

He is better than last year, and last year he was better than the year before (allowing for the fact that he was being regularly doubled). All he has to do is keep getting incrementally better, just as Nash did for his first 10 years, and that will justify the new contract. Add a little something every year. He is showing a pretty balanced set of tools right now. Not everything you would like, but getting there. I have a lot more hope for DD now than I did at the start of the year.

I agree Puffer. Don't get me wrong, I feel Demar still doesn't know how to find his shots, but he's a much better player than he was last year, adding something to every part of his game.

I disagree I think DeMar has a great shot selection. It's just with his current skill set he can't get any better ones than one his creating. Rudy Gay that someone that doesn't know what a good shot is.

Sometimes he falls in love with the long 2 too much but he is driving more which I like.

Sometimes he falls in love with the long 2 too much but he is driving more which I like.

It really comes down to DeRozan's handles. If he can tighten them up (we've been saying this for the past 2 years), he'd be able to get to the hoop much more readily.

The pullup jumper is a sound, fundamental move that I wish every player could incorporate. With DeRozan, I just wish he'd take an extra dribble or two, and pullup in the 10-15 foot range. With his leaping ability, DeRozan should be able to get that shot off whenever he wants.

Just be happy about him, Demar at his price and with current options is a good enough player which apparently fits our offense. He is still young, 24? Guy shows improvement every year in different areas, give him a small break. I bet he will blossom after few years if he continues to improve as steadily as he is now.
Practice beats talent if talent doesn't practice!

Just be happy about him, Demar at his price and with current options is a good enough player which apparently fits our offense. He is still young, 24? Guy shows improvement every year in different areas, give him a small break. I bet he will blossom after few years if he continues to improve as steadily as he is now.
Practice beats talent if talent doesn't practice!

I actually don't think DeRozan fits the offense that well. If he doesn't have the ball, there's a lot of standing around, or casually jogging off screens. Since he's not a 3point threat, he doesn't exactly draw weak side defenders much either.

And when he does have the ball, he's easily defended by giving him space and daring him to shoot. If his shot is dropping, great (but let's remember he's only shooting 38% beyond 10 feet). And because of his weak handles, DeRozan can't slice through the defense consistently....which is why we see the pumpfake-pumpfake-pumpfake-kickout-with-5-seconds-left so often. It happens at least twice per quarter (that's 8 wasted possessions per game because of DeMar's inability to create off the dribble).

I like the kid as a person. He's humble, he's a hard worker, and he's coachable (all terrific qualities). But that doesn't erase how flawed of a player he is....without any mention of his sub-par defense.

I like Demar too but I just find that he lacks fundamentals. He can't weave through defenses because he doesn't have the handle. He uses too much legs on his shot and it affects accuracy especially on 3 point attempts. His lateral quickness is lacking, he doesn't have an explosive first step and certainly this affects his defensive potential. He is a gym rat and that's always good, but is it too late to learn fundamentals this late in his development? These should have been addressed when he was in high school.

Maybe his earlier years, he was hyped up as a highlight film and was not given the proper direction in terms of fundamentals. Ball handling is something you have or you don't when you enter the league. He certainly has the body and size and most categories you would classify as athleticism. But it is his fourth year and he simple has limitations because of lacking ball handling. I admire his work ethic and his character, but you can't deny he is lacking fundamentals.

That being said, Luol Deng is not the most fundamentally sound but he has found someway to bean all star. I see Demar following a similar path, where he can carve a good career due to hard work and taking advantage of what he has instead of trying to be what he isn't.

I've come to accept that Demar will never be a James Harden secondary ball handler type of guy but I believe his work ethic will carry him through some how. I'd love for him to learn how to cut and find open areas a la Landry Fields, work on his foot work and dont jump too high when shooting threes.